Monday, June 26, 2006

Lord of the Stubbed Toe

It's been another week in Canada's Ocean Playground and the most eventful thing that's happened was my son's impersonation of Michael Flatleydoing Lord of the Dance in the living room and stubbed his toe as a result. I have to take him to the doctor today since his toe has swollen to the size of a Polish kielbasa.

I'm sure if I sent that story to the newspaper, it would receive front page placement since the biggest story for the past two weeks seems to be the Sunday shopping debate. More than half of Nova Scotians don't want Sunday shopping to come into effect citing that small businesses will suffer at the hands of the hypermarket grocery chains and workers being forced to work on the one day they can count on having off.

Both are valid reasons to oppose Sunday shopping but the way I look at it, if over half of Nova Scotians oppose it and workers don't want it, then it's much ado about nothing. The problem will take care of itself. If shoppers really don't want to shop on Sundays, they won't and the stores will open with no clientele. If workers will either quit or be fired for having to work on Sundays, then there'll be no one to staff the stores anyway.

Already some stores, like pharmacies (which are more like mini supermarkets anyway), are open on Sundays and they're just as busy on Sundays as they are any other day of the week so I guess there is a demand for it.

For the workers who are afraid they won't have one day of rest during the week, I can't say I buy this argument since the labour laws are still in effect over how much time employers can demand of their employees. It's not like employees will be working 24-7 anyway. Since I was the owner of a small business that stayed open 7 days a week, we certainly had no problem finding workers willing to give up their Sundays for pay. Many young people looking for weekend shifts and older people looking to supplement their incomes ensured us of a steady supply of shift workers--including myself.

Even when I wasn't working in retail but in advertising, I not only spent Sundays working but many evenings as well and since I had a salaried position, I rarely got paid for the extra hours I put in. I did them anyway because even if I found another job that was strictly 9 to 5, it didn't pay enough, was boring or both. As a working mother and wife, I appreciated having stores open later hours and on Sundays because it meant I could shop around my own working hours instead of stressing myself out trying to get my shopping done in stores that closed before my company did.

I'm sure that once Sunday shopping becomes the norm rather than the exception people will calm down and realize it does have its benefits as well. And maybe then they can focus on more important issues like increasing the minimum wage for workers.

Can a sovereignty move geographically,, i mean has it ever happened before ,,or are you the first,,,?NO KIDDING ,,this has been pondering in my head ,, for some time now ,, since you made the announcement of your return....

BY the way any tips ,, on how tohelp your faithful followers ,,especially the devilishly kind..? =zardoz=

zardoz...I am a fan of hypermarkets because I like being able to find everything I need without having to travel all over creation to get it. For instance, yesterday I needed to get groceries, take my son to the doctor, get his prescription filled and get cash from the ATM...and I did it all at one place. Saved me a lot of time and gas.Now, for the sovereignty question. I never moved my sovereignty. It's still here on blogspot...I just moved. But I'm sure I could move it geographically too because it's my sovereignty. LOLAs for my faithful followers, what help are they looking for? If it's the financial kind, then I'd have to say I can only provide them with Monopoly money. If it's the mental kind, then I highly doubt they'd want my help. LOL

I actually saw Nova Scotia's Sunday shopping hoo har on the news and it comes down to two things really.

1. The population of NS voted to not have Sunday trading. So really, the public made their voices heard.

2. Those stores that have been trying to get around the law by splitting their business into 4 of 5 smaller ones (all operating under the same roof) are in for it have now been dealt with (they changed the law to bloick them).

However, I don't agree with Sunday trading, it's a day of rest. Workers will probably be forced to work on Sundays and wont get much of a say. I mean how many people can turn around and say "I quit" when the boss says work?

But at the end of the day, the issue seems to be at a stalemate until the people of NS get another vote on the issue in 2008 (is it?).

I was talking about hypermarkets the other day. I think Greece would just eat up a Target or Walgreens, but we were saying it would put all the smaller places out of business. But would it? I mean, people in the city center would still go to the smaller places, because it would be more convenient than a place outside of town. But if you live in the damn suburbs, you DESERVE a hypermarket.

As far as Sunday shopping, I find it very inconvenient, but I do love having a day with a good excuse not to run errands!

Sunday shopping should be allowed. It's then a matter of preference whether to open, work or shop on Sunday. If that's too hard core for NS or Greece, they could always enforce 6 work days and shops can decide to close on Monday or any other day instead of Sunday in order to get more shoppers. I think freedom can have some bad side effects (for example at my job they consistently work more than 8 hours a day, it's the same thing) but it's worth having freedom anyway in my opinion.

I commute an hour a day to my job and am too tired to shop during the week. I like being able to chose to shop-either Saurday or Sunday-and then take the other day off. Sometimes it is convenient to me to do a few hours of shopping on both days in the AM too. In Italy all shops were closed on Sunday and I didn't have that choice.I like shopping on Sundays, but if the majority of the voters in Nova Scotia voted no, then that is democracy.

It is not as simple as some people may think. People are being threatened to work despite a law allowing retail workers the right to refuse work on Sundays. They have been scheduled without being asked, or their hours have been cut. We are encouraging retail workers to report this to the provincial government. Please visit our site and hear our side of the story.